The Queue: The right and wrong ways to post Recount results
by Adam Holisky 
Mar 9th 2011 at 11:00AM
I'm having a bear of a time with the game lately.
This Queue has just gone multimedia.
Withervein asked:
Is there proper etiquette for posting Recount results? Some people find it useful, others see it as bragging.
This can be a little complicated. Sometimes I think it's okay, and other times I think it's just gloating. There is a time when I almost would never do it, though, and that's in 5-man PuGs. If someone asks for it, send it to them in /tells if you're so inclined, but people who post it after every 5-man boss fight or trash pull ... yikes. They quickly make it onto my ignore list.
In raids, a lot of guilds have rules against posting meters during the raid. Afterwards, the stats are broken down via whatever log analysis tool is being used, and it's okay then to talk about meters. But during the course of the night, I find that meters often get in the way of what matters -- downing bosses. Of course, the raid leader should have Recount up the entire time, making sure that someone isn't just auto-attacking -- but that's the raid leader's job, probably not yours.
I do think it's okay, if the environment is right, for meters to be posted in private channels. In DPS chat channels I've been in, someone will post meters at the end of each fight (or in the middle of it when they get a bunch of crits and look really cool). In private channels, everyone is there for a reason, and likely there's a "norm" established. Just remember that such norms usually don't carry over to the raid channel.
When in doubt? Don't post it. Someone doing low DPS is unlikely to change because his bad numbers are being shoved in his face.
z3bulin asked:
In your opinion, Zul'Aman/Zul'gurub, recycled or awesome?
Both. It's been so long since I've gotten to do ZG for anything other than a "fun" run that I'm really looking forward to going back in and having it count. I think it'll be a lot like The Deadmines for me: a great old memory that's got lots of new and amazing things.
Zul'Aman, I'm a little less excited about, given the more recent memories of farming it nonstop for people's bears (pictured above; I used to get a lot of crap on WoW Insider ~3 years ago for posting pictures of myself on a bear "all the time," so I thought it was only appropriate that I do it now, too). Still going to be fun to run it, though.
Daniel asked:
Why are there no armor set achievements?
This is a really good idea, but it'd need to be done across all classes and all gear sets (which is a lot), and I'm sure that the underlying mechanics to make this achievement work are more complicated than just "eat 20 different meats."
That being said, Blizzard has generally been moving towards a reemphasis on gear and running older content, so part of me wonders if something like this would encourage that kind of behavior.
I know folks at the Big Cold Blue read this, so maybe they'll pick up the idea and like it!
Have questions about the World of Warcraft? The WoW Insider crew is here with The Queue, our daily Q&A column. Leave your questions in the comments, and we'll do our best to answer 'em!
Filed under: The Queue
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 13)
fallemwarrior Mar 9th 2011 11:04AM
Dont you love it when u get the one elitest in the party who constantly posts the recount but when they are not first they dont?
And when u post it they call you lucky and /leave party?
Nina Katarina Mar 9th 2011 11:12AM
I like the recount drilldown feature.
We had a lock who was ignoring adds on Drahga in Grim Batol (the tank wanted to kill the fight for his shoulders so wouldn't move past it, we wiped repeatedly). The lock kept posting recount and saying that he was tops in dps, why couldn't we kill this guy. Finally I posted the recount drilldown numbers for 'dps on the add' and showed that I'd done 107k the last pull, the rogue did 5k, the lock had done zilch. He whined, claimed he'd try again, and on the next pull he managed a whole 543 points of damage to the adds even though he lived through two breaths.
Recount for raw dps is almost useless unless you're using it to gauge your own performance and tweak your rotation. Recount's other features are great, however, to show who is slacking on switching to adds or on interrupts. Pity nobody uses it for such.
Puntable Mar 9th 2011 11:17AM
Anyone that cares about dps already has their own meter. Anyone that does not have a meter does not care about anyone's dps. Anyone that asks for a meter to be to posted already has a meter, and just wants someone to point their finger at it.
MikeLive Mar 9th 2011 11:21AM
I've been searching for many months to figure out how to configure Skada to only show my own DPS and no-one else's, but to no avail yet.
Narlic Mar 9th 2011 11:25AM
@Puntable
Spot, effing, on.
(cutaia) Mar 9th 2011 11:29AM
I always feel the same way about folks who request meters be posted.
Although, there's at least one exception. Occasionally recount will interfere with the UI in some way and I'll have to disable it. When that happens, I sometimes might ask for a posting occasionally out of curiosity. Especially on alts where I'm trying to learn how to properly use their abilities.
Aaron Mar 9th 2011 11:44AM
We have a guildie that will spam guild chat with his recount .... on his level 30 something alt ... and sometimes it's a recount from a BG.. /headdesk
Culhag Mar 9th 2011 12:03PM
Once in late WotLK I was doing a heroic on my recently 80 warlock, and there was this rogue in ICC gear who was posting Recount after every boss, and complained about the group's DPS.
Then someone posted a DPS/gearscore ranking, the rogue was dead last.
I'm not sure GS linearly translated into DPS, but really while he was the top DPS in the group, with his gear he should have done a lot better.
Sirn Mar 9th 2011 12:07PM
Our guild 10m main group is usually very competitive. As a shadow priest who has lost his utility and most of his AOE ability, it is important that I put out beastly DPS. If not I will be sat. Luckily shadow priests are in a good place right now, but our damage is underreported. My personal recount is the only one that is able to track my Shadowy Apparitions. Last night my recount had me listed as the #1 dps, while the raid leader saw me at #3 on the list. The DPS rank doesn't really matter, as long as I'm not last....
Posting my recount (especially when I'm in the bottom few), helps me make my case for being invited to the main raid group. Similarly, world of logs does not report my apparitions either.
http://i.imgur.com/npIXU.jpg
Pyromelter Mar 9th 2011 12:22PM
I have never encountered anyone who has dropped group for that, but of course have run into people who spam recount like it's 1999.
As far as when to post recount, there are 3 legit scenarios:
1. You have a dedicated chat channel outside of guild that is specifically for that. Let's say your guild's name is NukemForever. What you do at the beginning of the raid is say "Hey, anyone who wants to see dps meters after bosses, /join NukemForeverDPS" You post recount after boss fights. Healers can also do this in their own channel, say NukemForeverHeals. It is also acceptable to do this in party chat while in a raid, assuming the people in your party are doing your same role (heals/dps). I've never been an officer either but I'd imagine that /o chat would be fine too, although I'd also imagine that recount in /o chat would be a discussion over specific player performance.
The important thing to note here:
NEVER in raid chat.
NEVER in guild chat.
Then again, sometimes you'll click the wrong button on the broadcast, and you'll accidentally post your DPS to guild - apologize profusely if and when that happens.
2. Someone sends you a tell asking about their hps/dps. You can privately whisper them, there is an option to do that in recount at least (pretty sure can be done in skada but i've never used skada).
3. It's wrath of the lich king, you are an arcane mage, and you are in mixed 200/232 blues and purples, and you just killed Loken in 12 seconds by blowing all your cooldowns with a bloodlust, and did 20k DPS. It's kind of funny cuz it was really faceroll and he died so fast, so you post it to the party for poops and giggles.
Puntable Mar 9th 2011 12:28PM
There is one case where I am forced to post my meter... When someone in a PUG raid posts "Healing", my Disc Priest will always be last, so I have to post "Healing and Absorbs".
Pyromelter Mar 9th 2011 12:32PM
Oh and while I agree about recount/skada's other features, the original question wasn't about those things.
The best thing about recount in my opinion is the death log and damage taken log. Showing how someone died can help a person fix a problem on the spot. The damage taken log can also show which people are "standing in the fire" and which are taking less unnecessary damage. This can also help correct a problem on-the-spot. Neither of these things need to be broadcast to the raid, rather they should be done in tells or other private channels.
Nina's comment on add damage is also significant - it really shows who is doing it right and wrong. I remember the frustration of the slimes on Putricide, the good top dpsers would have in the hundreds of thousands of damage on them, and the ones that weren't doing as well would have less than 100k. This can also help correct a player's play on a boss and help down it. The thing with the putricide slimes was that if they weren't killed super fast, a whole chain of bad things happen; in most other add type fights, slacker dps could often be carried, but in the beginning of icc without the buff, that wasn't the case.
Khirsah Mar 9th 2011 12:35PM
My personal favorite is the guy that posts his top dps, but when you look at the damage he is at the bottom because he pulled aggro, stood in the fire, and lasted all of 15 seconds.
I LOVE that guy!
Minos Mar 9th 2011 12:42PM
I miss the late-Wrath days when I would tank heroics on my bear druid in his DPS gear. NOBODY posts damage meters when the tank is on top.
CodeMunki Mar 9th 2011 1:07PM
When someone posts DPS meters in n 5-mans, I respond with the Healing meter because 1) it's fun to confuse people and 2) I always win. :)
toofat2serve Mar 9th 2011 1:12PM
I'm a big fan of posting interrupt and dispel meters when someone posts dps meters.
Kar On E Mar 9th 2011 1:20PM
The only time I really repost recount numbers is upon request, and usually I only limit that to the times that I'm healing and thus don't care.
I did make an exception to this the other day however. I was healing and this warlock started trash talking everyone else, talking about how he was our best DPS and was carrying us all. He promptly linked his numbers. Not surprisingly, he was first and had like 50% of our total DPS. I then linked my recount numbers to follow his up, where he was actually responsible for like 10%. Another person links theirs and his numbers are still close to 10%. He then cusses us out and leaves group. The rest of the run was much better.
I have no true proof of this, but I suspect he kept some of his old DPS numbers and was trying to use them as a bragging point. I wouldn't have even cared if he hadn't been so over the top.
trefpoid Mar 9th 2011 1:40PM
There's this chinese fella in my guild.. a huntard.. he posts his recount for everything, every 5 minutes. I wonder if he is lacking somewhere and needs to make up for it :( or maybe he is just a stereotypical huntard. Anyway, it's really annoying. So please, people, stop doing that. If your dps is high, you are actually doing what is expected of you, and you shouldn't scream it out to the world, looking for someone to pat you on your head and tell you how well you did. My dog expects me to pat him when he fetches the ball I throw at him. Are you a dog?
I actually like the other meters a lot better, the one for interrupts is really good. DPS meters bring out the worst out of people, it's really sad.
Utakata Mar 9th 2011 1:46PM
I found my performance to be much better without Recount.
MichaelBerean Mar 9th 2011 2:25PM
When someone asks for damage meter to be posted I assume their computer is not powerful enough for them to run an addon at the same time as WoW (usually too little RAM). This is probably because a lot of people I have known were in that situation. They are usually genuinely concerned about holding the guild run back and the numbers have usually reassured them.
I have occasionally seen people asking for a damage meter to be posted is in a pug raid because they are trying to generate a consensus as to why we are in the middle of a wipe fest.
I do occasionally post recount to guild or raid to highlight someone else's excellent performance, especially if I am doing something leadery or if that person is being complained about. If JoeSmith is not approved for raiding yet and pulls 13k on a boss I might mention it. Or if JaneDoe is being blamed for not doing enough healing but took care of all of the cleansing I will probably post the dispel numbers.